My employer has laid off no less than 1/3 of its employees. Yesterday morning we had meetings with Man-Tra-Con and unemployment people. Lawyers are negotiating.

Some of you may ask why, if you know me very well you know why – DAMNED politicians.

I’m not talking about elected officials that are upstanding (in Illinois?) and try to do their jobs properly. I’m referring to the jerks that run this state. They have successfully raided the Underground Storage Tank Fund to the point that payments for work already completed in good faith and approved for payment by the IEPA are almost two years behind.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but if I let any debt go for a month I’ll be receiving phone calls daily at all hours. Apparently the state of Illinois can rape funds and move them around however they like. I’m sorry, these are called sweeps by the politicians so that the public doesn’t notice as much when the funds are stolen to pay for another social hour in Springfield.

Granted, these sweeps happen all of the time, but this time they are causing my employer serious issues that may even include closure. I consider the people I work with to be friends, and my friends are not getting paid and/or are laid-off thanks to flipping politicians ‘legally’ stealing money to go to pet or pork projects. It’s bullcrap.

For those who don’t know, the UST Fund is used to do a number of things. The most common that I’m aware of is removing/replacing petrol tanks from gas stations and cleanup of these sites so that there is no contamination. This keeps land ‘clean’ so that it can be sold and used safely. What happens when businesses that clean up these sites are all forced to close thanks to politicians?

I’m willing to wager that the politicians are still getting their paychecks and that welfare is continuing to be doled out.